'Night, Mother' play at NMSU-A

Alamogordo Daily NewsBy Bev Eckman-Onyskow, For the Daily News

Posted:
11/13/2012 10:01:20 PM MST

The relationship between mothers and daughters has been the subject of countless books, movies, and television shows and of discussions between mothers and daughters. Now another exploration of that relationship is at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo's Rohovec Theater for three days next weekend.

"This play is about the highest stakes for a mother and daughter, ever," Fountain said after a performance last weekend. "You get to see into their kitchen and see the conversation. It's about a mother trying to talk the daughter out of committing suicide."

Lest that sound terminally grim, be assured it is not. There are many humorous, laughter-provoking lines.

"You didn't eat a bite of dinner," Thelma said. "Does that mean I can't have a caramel apple?" Jessie replied, to laughter, as she "lighted" an electronic cigarette, whose red tip glowed throughout the play.

The audience was enthusiastic; "It was wonderful," and "Fantastic," were common post-play comments. "This is an important story, and the acting was good," Steve Haydu said.

"It's the very rawness of family and life that reaches right to the core," added Karen Hutchison. "I think what we take away from it depends on what we brought in with us."

Pamela Carrillo, also seeing it for the first time, called the play "quite an emotional roller-coaster.

Advertisement

I told them next time they need to have Kleenex out with the Coca-Cola."

Minnie Van Wormer said "it was emotional, but not depressing, even though it made me cry."

"Those two ladies really carried the story beautifully," said Anne Kuhn.

Chris Jones said he was "sick of being just entertained. This was moving."

Mercouris praised Fountain's performance. "She's a professional actress, she helped me so much."

Both women have appeared in numerous productions, with Alamogordo Music Theater and NMSU-A's Theater on the Hill. Fountain is a member of Actors Equity, the professional actor and stage manager union.

"It was the most engrossing and challenging role I've ever attempted," Mercouris said.

Stage manager and assistant director Michael Carrillo, who had seen the play many times through weeks of rehearsals, noted that the women had "fifty-seven pages of lines to learn, it was phenomenal what they did."

The production "has some comedy and some playfulness in it, and a surprise at the end," he said.

Director Connie Breding said she picked the play "because it really explores the mother-daughter relationship in such a profound manner. We strive to provide a variety of genre and styles."

During the play, another humorous moment occurred as the two women discussed Thelma's friend Agnes, who livens up her life and passes her time trying to burn down her house. "No one got killed, she set out lawn chairs and was serving lemonade," Thelma said.

Throughout the one-act, no-intermission play, Jessie continuously referred to her List, attempting to prepare her mother for her absence, because she is determined to die. She walked her mother through how to get her prescriptions filled, when to take out the garbage, "put it out late, so the dog next door doesn't get it."

The discussion gets deep, as the two women probe their past. "Did you really love Daddy?" Jessie asked. "No, it was a big fat lie, the whole thing," Thelma replied. "He felt sorry for me, he wanted a plain country woman, and that's what he married."

Jessie rejoined, "I thought things got better for you after he died." Her mother said, "I wasn't here for his entertainment, and not for yours, either. I bet you wouldn't kill yourself if he were here."

Jessie said, "I want to know what Daddy said the night he died." Thelma replied, "He didn't say a thing, it was his last chance not to talk to me, and he took full advantage of it."

Jessie has had a series of seizures, which Thelma calls "fits," a term to which Jessie objected. "I fell off a horse because I didn't know how to hold on, and Cecil (her husband) left for the same reason."

Their son Ricky is constantly in trouble with the law. "He's just like me," Jessie said. "He is out there trying to get even."

Jessie told her mother, "I probably feel as good as I have in my life." She fondled the gun she dug out of storage as her mother continued to try to dissuade her from suicide. "Give me two more weeks," Thelma pleaded. Jessie advised her to call her brother Dossin and the police after she dies.

What happened? You'll have to attend the play to find out.

"Night, Mother," is being presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8 for adults and $2 for NMSU-A students with current I.D.Bev Eckman-Onyskow is an Alamogordo-based freelance writer.